The Rings of Power Will Continue Filming Without Showrunners Due to WGA Strike

Producton on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 won't stop because of the Writer's Guild of America Strike. A new report from Variety reveals that the Prime Video series will power through the final days of filming on the new episodes, and will do so without series showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, who are part of the guild. There are 19 days left on the schedule for the series, with the show's non-writing EPs and directors overseeing the remainder of the shoot.

The decision to go through with the few remaining weeks on the show's schedule, while potentially resulting in something not so great upon release, is clearly a decision made after looking in the weeks ahead. Though the Writer's Guild of America is on strike now, both the Director's Guild of America and the Screen Actor's Guild could have a strike of their own at the end of June. Had The Rings of Power held off filming these last few days they would run the risk of the rest of their talent in front of and behind the camera being on strike, putting the entire season on a big delay. In theory that won't happen, but who is to say what the final episodes of the show will look like with the showrunners not being on set for re-writes.

Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will see a few new faces join the cast, including Gabriel Akuwudike (Hanna), Yasen 'Zates' Atour (The Witcher), Ben Daniels (The Crown, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Amelia Kenworthy, Nia Towle (Persuasion), Nicholas Woodeson (Paddington 2), Oliver Alvin-Wilson (Wonder Woman 1984), Stuart Bowman (Bodyguard), Gavi Singh Chera (The Lazarus Project), William Chubb (The Sandman), Kevin Eldon (Game of Thrones), Will Keen (My Lady Jane), Selina Lo (Hellraiser), and Calam Lynch (Bridgerton). The series has also recast a major role with Orc leader Adar set to be played by Sam Hazeldine in Season 2, Joseph Mawle previously filled the role in season 1.

Amazon Prime Video previously touted the success of the first season of the show, claiming it was viewed by more than 100 million people worldwide, with more than 24 billion minutes streamed and 25 million global viewers on its first day. These impressive numbers continued to be spread by the streamer, but other reports have since cast doubt on the show's popularity.